Lol, my home computer is a Dell P3 733 Mhz with 512 ram I bought in 2000. I've added a 60 gig 'slave' drive which I have wedged in the tiny box ~ its not even really connected other than the strip and some duct tape. I bought a new monitor about 4 years ago and a new keyboard last year. The computer has all these weird glitches i've learned to work around, but crashes are not uncommon. When it crashes I have to turn off with the dreaded button -- i've bet i've done this a thousand times. No restarts or control alt deletes -- this thing freezes solid. Also I can no longer really turn it off I just let it run until it crashes then push the button. It's like an old dog I just can't quite put to sleep -- it's almost fun to try and keep it running. Honestly though it really does run just fine the majority of the time. I've been on a great run lately and I know I just jinxed it... I use CCleaner, firefox, AVG, all the free spyware stuff, and i'm not afraid to get into the registry to clean up old crap. Oh yeah Windows ME in tha house. All jokes aside this Dell has been a beast of reliability and it runs photoshop etc just as fast as my 'cutting edge' work computer.
Running Window ME was killer for me.... The Dell I'm using now had problems with the power supply (it made noises). I opened the computer up, took it apart piece by piece. I didn't solve it, but I decided to run it again, and have been using it ever since. It stopped making lawn mower noises too. The computers I've used has always been screwy. Good experience I guess, but none have really broken down on me. Have fun with your Mac.
I don't get you. Laptop might be difficult to fix and find replacement. Desktop, you always can replace the bad component and it up running again. PC outdate in few year anyway. I have had 4 laptop in last 5 year, sale the old one at ebay.
coming in late, but I fully agree with this. Like others here, I've built and used dozens over the years, and as long as you take proper care of it,and stayup on the updates and maintenance, they will last you a good long time. Start with quality, and treat it right, and it will treat you right. Microsuck has done lots of stupid things over the years, but even I (a big linux fan) will admit that with XP and Vista, they are finally starting to get it right. My G4 powermac doesnt get used often less I am feelin like messing with something different.
If you really have gone through as many computers as you say you have, you have to figure out what the common element in all of them is. Usually, that element is you.
Maybe you are doing nothing wrong with the computers, maybe you've had bad luck several times in a row. But you did err in making a blanket declaration that all PCs are garbage based on your personal experience with a few of them. Based on the responses in this thread, it appears that you are wrong in your generalized belief. Lots of people agree that PCs in general are fine. Like others have said, enjoy your mac.
I'm pretty good at keeping my computers in good shape (I have a dell laptop from 2000 that still runs reasonably good), but with Dell, it seems that they have been slacking off in making good computers, well, laptops at least. I just had a inspiron 9400 replaced after almost a year of trouble (I barely beat my service warranty expiration) they replaced my motherboard, twice, and a video card with bad ram on it. The last time I sent it in to the depot, I was without my computer for 30 days! I complained and received a replacement. As far as maintenance goes though, I haven't seen anyone mention defragmentation, especially with windows, as it degrades over time, no matter what you do. You have to keep those folders and files in line to keep your system moving along. Along with a defrag once a week, I use zone alarm firewall and spyware, and nod32 anti-virus because these progs leave a small imprint on your memory. Also I use DCleaner and CCleaner because sometimes CCleaner will miss some things that DCleaner will get. I like the registry editor in CCleaner too. I tweaked out XP upon install (never keep the orginal install from dell, it's full of bloatware) and it's a pretty responsive operation system. My $3 worth... P.S. it's because of those maintenance tips, that my 7 year old laptop can smoke computers that are only a year old, LOL!
i have a VAIO and its currently working well ( dont wanna jinx it). Ive had it for like 5 years and no problems, still runs fast and everything. Im just careful in what i download, im stingy with my hard drive, but i have restored it tho.
This thread has inspired me to do a major clean up of my old system -- so far nearly 2 gigs of old crap gone. What is DCleaner and is it free?
DCleaner is much the same as CCleaner, cleans out temp folders and such, but I've found that sometimes DCleaner will find other files to get rid of, that CCleaner missed. DCleaner is free. http://www.scanwith.com/download/DCleaner.htm
Why don't you just backup your programs/files and just do a complete format? Its like having a brand new computer every time.
i take my dodge neon in for regular inspections and have only spent about twice the price i paid for it on repairs. hey it runs. go ahead wuss, enjoy your porsche.
That's what I thought...now I have no choice but to throw my PC in the garbage. The only problem I had before the reformat was that I kept getting redirected from google on IE (spyware and adware didn't fix this problem). It worked fine on Firefox. I was an idiot for trying to fix that problem. Other than that my computer was running very fast and smooth as possible. If someone can help me delete windows before putting in the XP CD that would be great Then maybe I wouldn't have anything to worry about. I'd rather not by a new computer if I don't have to. Anyways, I have a new problem - Whenever I hibernate and start up again it goes to the main screen and asks me to type in a password. Now I have disabled the password for my account and have no idea why it's doing this. I leave the password field blank and try to hit 'enter' and it still doesn't work. This is a pain in the ass because now I have to turn my computer off completely and it takes about 5-6 full minutes to turn on again.
I've done that in the past and it's a bit of a hassle on this machine -- pretty easy really to clean it up without the reformat. ____ Found the Dcleaner -- it did grab and clean up a few new bits of crap, but Ccleaner is much better. I still like using the ancient regcleaner to dig out old junk. As of this post ~ this 7 year old machine is running amazingly fast and stable...
http://www.cyberwalker.net/columns/aug02/010802.html I forgot about mentioning the bios. You have to set it so that it boots from CD drive first. Sometimes it's set to boot from harddrive and then the CD, so it boots from your corrupted windows instead of the installation disk. Control panel -> Power options ->Click on the Advanced tab -> there should be a box that says "Prompt for Password when the computer returns from standby"
Take out the eject button story and you just described me. Every PC I've had has been fine.... in fact I only bought the VAIO because I wanted a new machine... my old CTX running Win95 was the last one I used to post on here before the xp Sony machine. The eMachines crap unit is at the office... it pretty much is only an oversized MP3 player now. I used a Mac in college for a "graphics class." Bleh. The PC version of Corel Draw was just as good as that thing. (but that was in '93)
